


don't lose your fight, kid

by sky_blue_hightops



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon), Tangled (2010)
Genre: Brother Feels, Fainting, Father-Son Relationship, Fever, Gen, Good Parent Quirin (Disney), Hurt Varian (Disney), Hurt/Comfort, Infection, Injury, Protective Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider, Team Awesome (Disney: Tangled), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26408056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sky_blue_hightops/pseuds/sky_blue_hightops
Summary: “Alright, hold on-” Eugene dropped to a kneel by Varian’s feet, getting as good of a look as he could without moving the limb or disturbing the trap. Varian could only watch for a second before Eugene reached out to brush his fingers against the intact skin near the bleeding - he averted his gaze with a thick swallow. “You really did a number on yourself, huh?”
Relationships: Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Quirin, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Quirin & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Ruddiger & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Varian, Quirin & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 27
Kudos: 199





	don't lose your fight, kid

**Author's Note:**

> aaaAAa motivation took kind of a nose dive recently and wow college classes... are most certainly a Thing now..., but im here!! im kickin. have some whump. awkward finger guns

Sunlight sparkled on dew-soaked leaves. Shadows filtered through arching branches, dripping down tree bark to spill across the soft, damp ground. The quiet laughter of a nearby stream broke the otherwise-silence, only interrupted by the soft sound of Varian’s own breathing and the occasional happy chitter from Ruddiger in his ear.

The forest was objectively beautiful, suspended in its late afternoon peace, but Varian paid no mind. No - he had other priorities. “See anything?” he called out, careful to keep his voice low. It wouldn’t do well to scare off the wildlife, not when he and Eugene had trekked out so far just to study it.

A few trees down, the undergrowth rustled violently before Eugene wrestled his way free. “Trust me, kid, I would’ve said something if I had-” He paused, screwing up his face to bat a few leaves from his hair. “Are you _sure_ it’s even still around here? ...also, do you even know what we’re looking for?”

“It’s apparently a close relative to the bobcat.” His eyes lit up as he gestured wildly to the forest around them. “We’re very close, if my information is right. Can you _imagine_ what it would be like to be the first to spot an unidentified species? The first to _study_ it? I’ll admit, I’m more used to working with abiotic specimens but this is _far_ too good of an opportunity to pass up, just-” Varian stumbled over a root, losing his balance and wincing when Ruddiger’s grip sunk into his shirt sleeves. Oh, he’d been rambling - he cut himself off with a sheepish grin, stuffing his free hand into his pocket. “Sorry. Yes, I know about what we’re looking for. I’m the expert here!”

“I thought you just said you don’t work with alive stuff…” Eugene shot him a mock suspicious look, before it shifted to something more serious. “You know I don’t mind your rambles. Seriously, Varian, it’s fine. I wouldn’t come with you if I didn’t want to spend time with you.” And the look in his eyes was so unashamedly earnest, it was difficult to meet.

Varian felt his face heat up slightly and he ducked his head to hide it as best he could. “Thanks, Eugene,” he replied. The half-second of comfortable silence between them settled just long enough to make him warm, before he poked his staff into the dirt and shook his head. “Okay, if you’re done being all soft-”

“-Hey! I was simply-”

“-then it’s time to focus again. _Science_. It should be your number one priority.”

Eugene narrowed his eyes. “It’s gonna get replaced with food and shelter if we’re out here too much longer,” he grumbled.

“The sooner we find it, the faster we head home,” Varian reminded him. “You head left, I’ll go right?”

The brief conflicted look flickering across Eugene’s face didn’t go unseen, and Varian barely recognized it as from protectiveness before the man’s face settled. “Call me if you need me, alright?”

Pfft. It was an empty, quiet forest and Varian could more than handle himself anyways, but he’d left Eugene indulge himself. “Of course.”

* * *

Apparently, and just his luck, _empty and quiet_ did not equivocate to _safe_. Varian struggled with the metal for a few more exhausting seconds, before giving up and slumping back against the tree behind him.

Every shift of his body meant a shift of his leg, and every shift of his leg meant a fresh wave of pain. Varian stirred, wiggling fingers tacky with drying blood, and he shivered with disgust and wiped his hands on his pants. The action - quick, desperate - left stains on the pale fabric that were difficult to ignore; he swallowed down sudden nausea and forced more comforting thoughts to the front of his mind. If he simply...didn’t move at _all_ , he’d be fine for a while longer, _surely?_

But how much longer? Ruddiger had left an indeterminate amount of time ago - the sun had set since then, but it had set quickly and Varian’s ability to pick the horizon out in the growing darkness was fading alarmingly fast. The dirt under his ankle had gone dark and damp with blood probably too long ago.

Oh, yeah. His ankle.

Either there was some animal out here dangerous or annoying enough to warrant trapping, or someone else had had the same bright idea as him - to discover a fauna previously unknown - but with significantly different...methods. Well - he’d consider his method of ‘approaching carefully and observing from afar’ quite removed from ‘hiding a wicked-sharp bear trap in the undergrowth’. But who was counting, right?

He couldn’t help but adjust his position again ( _barely,_ okay, there was a twig digging into his back and his free leg was going numb) and his breath stuttered from the burning rush lancing up his ankle. He couldn’t get his calf muscles to relax, no matter what, and his whole leg trembled from the strain. He had to get out. He had to get _out_ , because his leg was stuck and shaking and every shake made everything so much _worse_ -

A distant crash. Varian jolted and snapped his head up - oh, ow, _ow_. He barely managed to track the increasingly loud footsteps through the newest haze of pain. _Please be Eugene, please,_ he thought, breath picking up at the thought of a bear at that speed - or worse, whoever had set up a trap this inhumane. But then there was a voice, calling frantically from the same direction as the crash. “Varian? _Varian?_ ”

“Here,” he forced out. “Eugene, I’m over here!”

The sound of absent, relieved conversation - probably Eugene talking to Ruddiger, a relentless habit he _insisted_ he didn’t partake in, but sure, whatever - washed over Varian and he breathed out a laugh. It didn’t take more than a few moments for the man to step through the bushes and immediately focus on Varian, half-sprawled on the ground and barely half-lucid in a pool of his own blood. Eugene let out a low whistle, disengaging Ruddiger from his shoulders and letting the raccoon scamper closer. “Geez, kid. Really?”

“ _Really_ ,” Varian intoned. “What took you so long?”

Eugene faltered, scratching at the back of his neck. “I was... _busy_ ,” he protested.

“You climbed a tree to try to spot the animal from above and then got stuck at the top, didn’t you.”

“You say that so _easily_. I’m perfectly competent at climbing trees, alright; I could’ve been held up by important business, for all you know.”

Varian leveled him with a deadpan look and gestured towards his still-bleeding ankle.

Eugene exhaled, the line of his shoulders softening as he dropped the act. “Yeah, okay, there isn’t anything more important than making sure you’re okay. And, hey-” He tutted, cutting off Varian’s likely-snarky response. “-I’m allowed to be soft this time. Mortal injury gets a free pass.”

Varian winced at the _mortal injury_ , but couldn’t deny it. His foot below the wound had started to go numb - his only saving grace was that the trap was old and rusted and hadn’t closed nearly all the way.

Coincidentally, his only source of worry was that the trap was old and rusted.

“Alright, hold on-” Eugene dropped to a kneel by Varian’s feet, getting as good of a look as he could without moving the limb or disturbing the trap. Varian could only watch for a second before Eugene reached out to brush his fingers against the intact skin near the bleeding - he averted his gaze with a thick swallow. “You really did a number on yourself, huh?”

“Something - hng, _ow_ \- like that.” Varian very intently and very carefully stared holes into the undergrowth far from the general direction of Eugene and his ankle, fisting the moss under him and gritting his teeth. The sounds he couldn’t escape, not the creak of the metal joint nor the quiet, damp noise of his blood, and he almost moved to clamp his hands over his ears before warm fur wrapped around his neck and a loud rumbling set up shop under his chin.

“Thanks, bud,” he choked out, hiding his face in Ruddiger’s side. He got a quiet, adorable chirp in response and fixated on it like there was no other good sound in the world.

“Almost there, okay?” Eugene’s low tone slipped past the purring and the humming and chirping, another much-appreciated source of comfort. “You’re doing so well - Ruddiger, is he still awake-” Muffled cursing. Varian felt his eyes slide shut as fingers looped around his wrist. “Varian. Hey. Hey! You’d better not fall asleep on me, kid, hey, c’mon-”

“‘M here,” he groaned. The sleepiness had completely blindsided him, and the world tilted forwards. Or maybe it was his head - but then the trunk disappeared from behind his shoulders just as hands steadied him, and he realized he’d slumped away from the tree to lean into Eugene’s careful grip. “This sucks.”

“It sure does,” his friend agreed with what was probably exasperated amusement. “Of course you’d find the bear trap. With your foot. I’m getting you a better pair of boots when we get home, goggles.”

“Home sounds _great_ ,” Varian sighed as Eugene attempted to get him upright. “Come back...eh. Later.”

“We’ll be first to find the _next_ newest animal in the Seven Kingdoms.” Varian swatted in Eugene’s direction, rolling his eyes, but leaned most of his weight into Eugene’s support nonetheless. “I doubt you can walk on that foot, kid.”

Varian blamed his suspended higher reasoning on the blood loss, because the split-second decision to test all of his weight on his right foot didn’t come from a place of logic or intelligence. He didn’t even have the time to take in a breath before his vision flickered and everything went funny around the edges. “Bad idea,” he gritted out. “Really bad idea. Nope, definitely can’t.”

“That’s okay-” Eugene hooked his arm around Varian’s back. “Lean on me, got it?” Irrational guilt soured somewhere deep in his chest - he was still learning how to accept the help he didn’t think he deserved, and he took a deeper breath and let Eugene support almost all of his weight. The pressure on his ankle lessened and he swayed - the relief was dizzying. “Woah- give me a warning if you think you’re gonna pass out.”

Varian braced his forearm against his friend’s shoulders and gripped the fabric of Eugene’s jacket. “No promises.” He huffed a quiet laugh. “Pretty dizzy right now.”

“I wonder _why_ ,” Eugene shot back before they settled into another relaxed (or - as relaxed as they could get, given the circumstances) silence. Ruddiger leaned heavy against the back of Varian’s neck, but the weight was infinitely more soothing than hindering. And with Eugene’s hand steady against his side, fingers spanning Varian’s ribs and warm and _there_ , he wondered how bad it would actually be if he just...drifted, a bit…

“You’d better not, Var, c’mon.” Varian whined at the jostling movement, fighting to keep his eyes open.

“We’re good now,” he insisted. This only earned him another jostle and he lolled his head towards Eugene’s shoulder to meet his eyes. “Let me slee _ee_ p.”

“How about you- aw, damnit.” Their forward motion stalled when Eugene froze in place. The abrupt stop made Varian stumble, but Eugene only tightened his grip and didn’t let either of them lose their balance. “Okay, change of plans. Up you go.”

Varian made an inquisitive noise - _go where?_ \- but Eugene had already unwound his arm from Varian’s and bent over slightly. “I forgot about the river; I’m gonna have to carry you over. Hop up - careful, there you go-”

He clung to Eugene’s shoulders and pulled himself up the best he could, but a wrong kick with his injured leg had him seeing stars for a moment too long. He clung to consciousness as best he could, dimly aware of sliding back down but unable to do much about it. Eugene caught him just in time, hiking him up higher, and looped his hands under Varian’s legs. “Whew - I’ve got you, relax for a second.” Ruddiger barely moved through it all, secured by his claws hooked in Varian’s collar and only shifting to press his little wet nose behind Varian’s ear. “Settled?”

“Mm hm.” All his energy was diverted towards things more important than talking: staying awake, holding tight, breathing, the simple stuff. _Energy_...he drifted, thoughts spiraling into conceptualizing his energy as a tangible thing, a countable idea, and then the potential energy behind being off the ground, and then the energy behind the spring mechanism of the trap…

The sound of rushing water under him pulled him out of that middle space he dedicated to brainstorming. He hesitated before finally spotting the reason Eugene had been so quick to scoop him onto his back. Ahead of them, the bright green crumbled into an uneven riverbank; grey blurred with grey, splashed with blue - and rolling rapids swirled about a foot deep and lashed at the mud bordering them. There was no way he’d be able to cross on foot, even with Eugene’s help, and now he appreciated Eugene’s hold for practical reasons beyond simple comfort.

When Eugene took the first step into the water, he wavered and tipped. The current fought his every move but he pressed on and took another step. With each one, it got easier, but as it got easier it became trickier. Deeper currents threatened to drag them both down. Hidden rocks threatened to injure his feet and send them both sprawling. Moss and algae coated the riverbed, creating a slippery surface he had no way to navigate - at least, not by sight, not through the dirtied, muddied waters.

Varian kicked out weakly, toes moving through cold and wet. Water lapped around his feet before rising above his ankles, sediment and grit swirling in the grey-brown depths, and he squinted as the water level seemed to move close before sliding away, close then away, back and forth. “Only a little longer,” Eugene repeated, words grim and more for his own benefit than anyone else’s. “We aren’t far.” His hands twitched where they held tight, and Eugene turned his head slightly to press his cheek to Varian’s. “You still good back there?”

“As good as it gets,” he mumbled. The middle space, alluring as it was, felt like syrup. Probably wasn’t best to return to it for now. “Tell me a story?”

“Do I even have one left that you haven’t heard?” But Eugene still paused to think for a moment, trudging through the knee-high water with jagged breathing. “Alright, fine. Once upon a time-”

“A _fun_ story.”

“Hey, I take offense to that-” Varian used what scraps of spare effort he had left to turn his head and blow into Eugene’s ear. His friend yelped, jumping slightly. “You’re going to regret that when you aren’t bleeding from a hole in your leg, I swear-”

The reminder about the state of his wound had Varian blinking through a woozy haze, and he wondered just how much he’d regret it if he lost his lunch all over Eugene’s jacket. He shivered - memories of loud, upset voices, memories of heat and sweat and sour, of grey stone walls and floor and metal bars, of regret, _regret_ \- they all pressed in and worsened a headache he hadn’t realized had been picking away at the base of his skull. “Sorry,” he said, strangled, hiding his face in the crook of Eugene’s neck. “Sorry, sorry-”

“No, hey…” A hissed curse, worry in the corners of his eyes. “Breathe, Varian. Deep breath in, okay? Yeah, just like that. Keep it up - you don’t have to be sorry.” Varian screwed his eyes shut, puffing out anxious breaths and pretending the world didn’t exist outside the smell of soap on Eugene’s shirt collar and the way his hair fell and helped cover Varian’s face. “We’re both gonna need a nap when we get back. Yeah? How’s that sound?”

He let one of his slower breaths taper into a laugh. “Sounds good.” He wished he could keep talking, could let Eugene’s antics do their job and keep him alert, but the vertigo refused to let up and he couldn’t bring himself to do more than hope the world wouldn’t spin any _faster_. Greys and greens blurred around him, a damp afternoon sky stretching over lush grass, and he tracked the horizon for a dizzying moment before going back to hiding.

Varian really was thankful they hadn’t ventured too deep into the forests around Corona - the nearest town was no more than an hour or so’s walk in the distance, houses and fences in sharp relief with the pale blue sky. And as much as he appreciated not having to walk through the river, there was no way he could ask Eugene to carry him the entire journey home. But that distance, on _this_ wound....safe to say it wasn’t shaping up to be very fun.

Just an hour or so. Then rest. And hopefully some kind of pain-killing remedy. He should really look into studying the medicinal sciences…

Drifting back to brainstorming was a welcome relief from the pain of the afternoon, and he settled in for a little while longer with Eugene's support.

* * *

The walking wasn’t fun at all.

He barely remembered the trip. Bits and flashes of pain, of unsteady ground under his feet and Eugene’s obviously worried tone - but most of it? Pushed to the back of his mind. No use in remembering something so sucky and with so little intellectual value, he thought drowsily to himself, muffling a yawn into the back of Eugene’s shoulder.

Oh, yes. Once they’d reached the outskirts of civilisation, Eugene had taken one look at the tired creases of his eyes and picked him back up again. Perhaps it was a benefit of walking on paved roads versus roughing the wilderness paths, of royal funding - semantics, really. Either way, the roads were good enough that Eugene could handle both of their weight at once, and Varian curled closer to his friend and held as tightly as he could.

Another benefit of finally arriving in town quickly approached the tired pair, concern bleeding through his every word. “Eugene? Oh- come, this way…” Only punctuated by the opening and closing of doors, the words exchanged over his head fuzzed into the background - but the voice was unmistakable.

“Dad?” Varian mumbled, instinctively reaching out. Eugene’s care made him feel safe and kept him from fracturing, but there was nothing like the burst of warmth in his chest at the sound of his dad’s low rumble. “ _Dad-_ ”

“I thought it was just another science trip,” Dad sighed, tired but fond. “Yet you boys found trouble again?”

Varian curled towards his dad, letting the hands that had held him and picked him up for as long as he could remember support him as he slipped from Eugene’s back. His injured foot never even touched the ground, and the last of his nervous energy dissipated as Dad folded him into a gentle hug. “Bear trap,” Eugene informed Dad bitterly. “I’ll have the guard comb the woods for more. I can’t believe those are still in use - and in the lighter areas, too.”

Dad hummed and held Varian at arm’s length for a moment. He felt the loss of contact sorely, only relaxing when Dad finished with whatever idea he’d been thinking about and pulled him closer once more. “It looks like something I can treat here...” He leveled Eugene with a look as the other man shuffled awkwardly towards the door, unsure of his place. “-no, son. You stay and rest a bit, too. You’re shivering.”

Eugene blinked, gaze shifting to his hands. They trembled before he balled them into fists and nodded. “Yeah, I- okay. Thank you,” he replied. Dad nodded him towards one of the old kitchen chairs, using his grip on Varian’s shoulders to sit his son in the one next to Eugene’s. “Do you need help?”

“Keep him sitting upright.” And then Dad was gone, off somewhere deeper in the house, and Eugene pressed his shoulder against Varian’s with a worried smile.

“Guess it’s good I told Sunshine we might not be back tonight, huh?” Varian snorted - they wouldn’t have to worry about her wild concern until at _least_ tomorrow. If he knew his dad right, there was a spare bed with Eugene’s name on it. Probably dinner, too. Dad wasn’t the best at being worried with words, but it shone through in his actions.

So when Dad reappeared with heavy blankets and bandages, Varian submitted to the mild fussing with no protest. And when Dad draped one of the blankets on Eugene’s shoulders, and when the trembling in Eugene’s fingers slowed and stopped, and when Eugene shot him a look like he felt way out of his depth with the attention - Varian only returned it with a knowing smile and a hand wiggling free of his blanket pile to tangle Eugene’s fingers with his own.

“Don’t look, Varian.” His dad’s voice, gentle while still firm, brought him back to the present. “Eugene-”

“I’ve got him.” The blanket shifted and Eugene’s free hand came up to tilt Varian’s head towards his, palm warm and grounding against Varian’s cheek. Brown eyes held his focus and kept his gaze from sliding back towards where Dad knelt at his ankle, cleaning and bandaging and poking around in all the ways that made Varian’s stomach do loops. “Hey. You never let me finish my story from earlier, nerd.”

“More like never let you _start_ it,” he grumbled, just to be argumentative, but the smile that stretched across Eugene’s face unraveled tension he’d still been holding onto. “What was…” A yawn broke through his words, and his grip loosened around Eugene’s other hand. “What wassit about?”

“Well - and no interruptions, now - once upon a time…”

Eugene didn’t make it to the end of the sentence before Varian slowly slumped towards him, fading into a doze.

* * *

Quirin sat back with a frown, tucking the end of the clean bandage into place and discarding the needle into a spare bowl for cleaning. “I’ll take him up to bed,” he explained, easily scooping the boy into his arms and straightening. “Will you be fine on your own until I return?”

Eugene floundered internally for a heartbeat, unused to this kind of concern - did he look like he wouldn’t be, he wondered, then remembered the blood on his hands and the exhaustion in his bones - before clearing his throat. “Yes, thank you.”

The answer seemed good enough for Quirin, and Eugene exhaled sharply when he vanished up the stairs. Getting to step back from the protective mindset, letting someone else take the lead, letting himself be guided - they shook his confidence to the core in a way he hadn’t handled before. But… he curled deeper under his blanket, drawing in a steadying breath. He couldn’t say he didn’t like it. He couldn’t say it didn’t make him feel...worth it, somehow.

So when Quirin returned for him and showed him up the stairs, hands hovering like he wasn’t sure if Eugene could stay on his feet, Eugene didn’t quite know how to respond - but let it comfort him nonetheless. And when Quirin scanned him and seemed to know more from that one look than Eugene even knew, and when Quirin guided him towards Varian’s room instead of the spare, and gestured towards the spare bedding without another word - well. Eugene hoped his thanks showed in his tired smile, because he didn’t know how to speak past the sudden ache in his chest.

By the time he settled against the mattress with a quiet groan, Varian had slipped from a light doze to snoring into the pillow, arm bent awkwardly and sheets twisted around his legs. Eugene stifled a laugh and tugged at the fabric, pulling it free before it could interfere with the bandaging. “Even a mess in your sleep, huh?”

He dropped his head against the pillow. It wasn’t long before the events of the day caught up with him - sleep tugged and refused to let go, and who was he to refuse?

Varian was safe beside him - the kid rolled over and clung to his arm, drooling against his sleeve, which was as annoying as it was endearing - Quirin had the wound care handled, and they’d head to the castle tomorrow. Everything was sorted. Surely, he could relax.

He barely finished that thought before finally nodding off.

* * *

He woke to a fire at his side.

“Wha-” Eugene scrubbed at his eyes, blinking heavily, confused. His first instinct was to shy away from the heat, but when he moved, it came with him. And then he realized it was wrapped around his arm and still drooling on his shirt, and then he realized the heat was _Varian_.

A shot of adrenaline chased away the rest of his drowsy bewilderment. “Varian.” He shook the kid’s closest shoulder, hissing at the heat he could feel through Varian’s shirt. Maybe he needed rest, maybe Eugene shouldn’t wake him, but a curl of fear drove him to make sure Varian _could_ wake. “C’mon. Open your eyes for a second.”

When Varian didn’t rouse, he froze before shifting to palm the boy’s face. The warmth bleeding from his cheeks and forehead ticked Eugene’s worry up another notch. “Varian, _please_.” Blue eyes blinked open, exhausted and dazed, refusing to focus on any one thing, but it was much better than nothing at all. Eugene heaved a breath, trying to hide his relief and failing pretty badly. “Wow, today really isn’t your day, hm?”

A beat of silence. Then Varian’s face shifted into a sad sort of frown, tears welling up abruptly. “No, wait, don’t cry-” Eugene pulled away and sat up, caught in a split second moment of panic. “Talk to me, kiddo, c’mon-”

But Varian only reached towards him wordlessly, glazed eyes tracking Eugene’s movements and sliding away and back with no real thought behind it. He seemed upset by whatever he was seeing - or maybe whatever he wasn’t seeing - and Eugene slid to the edge of the bed. “I’ll get your dad, okay? I’ll be right back, promise.”

Varian flinched at his words, his feeble grabs growing more insistent. “No,- please, I want-” But Eugene was already out the door, scrambling down the hall as quick as he could.

The master bedroom wasn’t hard to spot, its door prominent at the end of the hall. Eugene poked his head in with a rapid knock. “Quirin-” The man looked up from his workbench, lowering his tools with a frown. “It’s Varian, he’s burning up.”

The frown deepened and twisted. “Infection,” Quirin muttered, and with a start Eugene recalled dirty, murky water and an open, bleeding wound. “I’ll be right in; can you keep him company?”

A sharp nod. No doubt Quirin was gathering what he needed - Eugene would leave him to it. As for him, the memory of feverish skin and frantic tears had him skidding back down the hall and into Varian’s room. “I’m back, see-”

But the boy had curled in the center of the bed, migrating towards the empty space Eugene had left behind, and it _hurt_ to watch. The sound of Eugene’s voice was enough to get him to look up; he hiccuped, breath stuttering and eyes focusing slightly as clumsy hands wiped away tears. “I want my brother- _please_ ,” he cried.

It was at that exact moment when Quirin stepped into the room, catching his son’s delirious words as they hung in the silence. Eugene risked a glance at Quirin from the corner of his eye - the man looked entirely unsurprised, maybe even a little fond, and Eugene scooted forwards to lean into Varian’s line of sight. “I’m right here, goggles. Okay? Do you want to hold my hand?”

The lightning-fast grab for his hand surprised a laugh out of him. “Noted.” But even the brief moment of humor couldn’t make him fixate on anything besides the anxious sweat on Varian’s brow or the ferocity with which he pressed closer to Eugene.

His fears must’ve been written across his face, or Quirin was mind-reading again; honestly, it could’ve been either. “He’ll be okay. We’ll get his fever down, and after that he must rest.” Quirin turned a critical eye on him, stern. “You as well, before you return to the castle. The Princess will understand.”

He guessed he shouldn’t be surprised by the man’s sharp perception anymore, nodded, and drew in a slow breath. He held onto Quirin’s words and shifted to hold Varian close before letting the air go. Rest? He let his eyes close for a second, before opening them with a smile. Yeah. He could do that, for the meantime.

And with Quirin poking around his bag of medicines, explaining quietly the methods behind it; with Varian tucked under his arm and calmed for the moment despite his fever-warm skin and pained gaze, and even with Ruddiger fast asleep at the foot of the bed, Eugene took another steadying breath. And one more before exhaling, surrendering to the quiet peace of the morning.


End file.
